The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed the decision by a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the organisers of Coachella over their alleged violation of anti-trust law through the restrictive radius clause it places in its artist contracts.

Soul’d Out claimed in the suit that artists such as SZA and Daniel Caesar had been forced to turn down their festival due to the radius clause in their Coachella contract, which stipulates that artists who are booked to play at Coachella cannot play at any other North American festival between December 15 and May 1.

Coachella 2019 (Picture: Getty)

Soul’d Out’s suit was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman in March 2019. Mosman ruled that Goldenvoice had made no anti-trust injury against Soul’d Out as a result of the radius clause, and dismissed the case on lack of standing.

The panel found that Soul’d Out satisfied requirements for standing, noting that “an injured party may assert tort claims predicated on a contract’s alleged invalidity, despite not being a party to the contract.”

This means that Soul’d Out can move forward again with their suit, which is expected to be re-filed at the District Court within the next 14 days.

Coachella 2020 is set to be held on October 9-11 and 16-18 after its original April dates were scrapped due to the coronavirus outbreak.